Our Work

VNRC Co-Hosts Successful Forums on Biomass

In June and July 2010, VNRC co-hosted three forums around the state to create and elevate a strategic discussion about the potential role of biomass in Vermont’s energy future. Below is a synopsis of the goal of the forums, the principles that the sponsoring organizations offered as a way to frame the dialogue and all of the notes from the forums.

For more information about this process, please contact VNRC’s Forest Program Director Jamey Fidel at 802-223-2328 ext. 119 or jfidel@vnrc.org.

Goal of Forums:

To engage Vermonters in a conversation that looks at how wood from our forests can produce efficient, renewable energy while ensuring long-term forest health and maximizing benefits to communities.

Climate change mitigation: to reduce the net carbon emissions and increase carbon sequestration/storage in order to mitigate global warming.

Small Group Sessions Breakouts: Hosts organized attendees into small group forums to hear from Vermonters about their interests, concerns and hopes on the role of Vermont’s forest resources in helping meet our future energy needs. Attendees were asked to ground-truth the principles above, offer their ideas and concerns and generally share their perspective on biomass energy for Vermont.

The following notes are word-for-word summaries of people’s feedback and ideas in the small group break out sessions.SUMMARY NOTES FROM SMALL GROUP SESSIONS:

MIDDLEBURY — June 2, 2010

Middlebury — Group One

Concerns –

· Efficiency and reduced consumption – security

· Potential policy distortions because of sector-based and segmented approach

· Focus on obvious thermal needs on community and institutional scale

· Delivery of biomass – in development

· Pellets as designed for large-scale, not local, distribution; analogous to fossil fuel for transportation and export, threat to Vermont energy security. Principles re: local and energy security important here.

· Creating local demand for chips could reduce impacts of external pressure

· Properly managed forest – 1/60 cut each year – solar efficiency = low, but time scale is a factor

· 70,000 parcels of forest in Vermont – How do you manage so many individual owners? Lose animals, overcut, stream impact. Where is public good? Incentives, procurement policies, high regard for the individual – 3rd party verified where wood comes from

· We have no forest management rules that other states have – AMPs = voluntary here – heavy cutting law/land management